The Minnesota Timberwolves are in arguably the toughest division in the NBA. How does that affect their playoff hopes next season?
The Minnesota Timberwolves are in the extremely difficult Northwest Division of the NBA’s Western Conference. Among the five teams in the division, every team made the playoffs in the 2018-19 season other than the Timberwolves. In fact, four of the top six seeds in the Western Conference were from the Northwest Division. This was the second straight season in which this division had four representatives in the NBA Playoffs.
This Northwest Division includes the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Minnesota Timberwolves. These five teams last season had a combined record of 242-168. This was by far the best overall record by any division. The next best division was the Atlantic Divison in the Eastern Conference with a record of 217-193 with four teams represented in the playoffs as well.
To put it into more perspective on how impressive 242 wins in one division is, the worst division in the NBA was the Southwest Divison of the Eastern Conference with a record of 181-229. This means the five teams in the Northwest conference combined for 61 more wins, an average of 12.2 more wins per team.
Although the NBA does not have the same playoff format as the MLB, NBA, and NFL in which division winners and wildcards make the playoffs, being in a difficult division is still a major disadvantage for a team. Of the 82 games each NBA team plays, roughly 19.5 percent of their games are against divisional opponents. This means for teams like the Timberwolves, their strength of schedule is higher than any other team outside of their division.
Here is a look at the make-up of the 82 game NBA schedule for each team:
- Four games against the other four division opponents (16 games)
- Four games against six of the other non-division Western Conference teams (24 games)
- Three games against the remaining four non-division Western Conference teams (12 games)
- Two games against each team in the Eastern Conference (20 games)
Not only is Minnesota in the toughest division in the NBA, but they are in the Western Conference which has proved much more difficult than the Eastern Conference. As shown in the breakdown above, 62 of Minnesota’s 82 games every season are against the tough Western Conference teams.
Being in the Western Conference and more specifically in the Northwest Division, the Timberwolves have one of the most difficult schedules in the NBA. Among the other four teams in the division, none of them appear to be trending in the wrong direction, and all of them should be contenders at making the playoffs again next season.
With the Timberwolves road to the playoffs not looking like it will get any easier, they will have to work to improve their roster and compete with the best teams in the NBA on almost any given night. If Minnesota is a playoff team next season, the Northwest Division has a chance to have all five members of their division represented in the NBA Playoffs.
Behind their superstar center Karl-Anthony Towns as well as their new head coach Ryan Saunders, the Minnesota Timberwolves will look to overcome their difficult schedule in the 2019-20 season and earn a spot in the NBA Playoffs.